{"id":265,"date":"2008-01-18T12:30:32","date_gmt":"2008-01-18T17:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/blogs\/in-the-corner-with-jim-connelly\/jconnelly\/20080118\/additional-commentary-on-magnessgate-and-more.html"},"modified":"2008-01-18T12:30:32","modified_gmt":"2008-01-18T17:30:32","slug":"additional-commentary-on-magnessgate-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2008\/01\/18\/additional-commentary-on-magnessgate-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Additional commentary on Magnessgate… and more"},"content":{"rendered":"
I’ve received a lot of email from fans who were at Magness last Friday night when the controversial no-goal ended the Wisconsin-Denver game.<\/p>\n
Some of the feedback brought up worthy points:<\/p>\n
“Magness Arena is equipped with technology that does not allow the goal light to come on, which it did, if there is no time on the clock. You can sit in the judges box and flip the goal switch as many times as you want but if the game clock does not have any time on the clock it will not come on. Since the goal light most clearly came on, and the two referees who were standing by the goal signaled goal, and the replay clearly showed the puck going into the net, I am not sure what the question was.”<\/em> – Eddie Gleason<\/p>\n Eddie brings up a very good point. Unless referee Randy Schmidt believed that the goal judge had a very quick trigger finger, the goal light alone was a good indication. Most arenas have a trip swtich that doesn’t allow the red light to fuction if the clock reads all zeros. So the fact that the goal light was even able to go on was a clear sign the puck entered the net before the buzzer.<\/p>\n “I am a DU alum that traveled to Denver last weekend for the games. My friend has season tickets right behind the penalty boxes and the now infamous replay monitor. When the apparent tying goal was scored, I jumped up and literally was looking over Schmidt’s shoulder through the glass as he reviewed the play. On the replay monitor he was looking at the camera angle from directly above the goal and not the FSN feed. The replay monitor had a camera shot of a clock (which one I have no idea) super-imposed in the corner of the video as he rolled through it frame by frame. When the clock was at 0.0 the puck was clearly in the crease 6-8 inches from the goal line. It was so obviously not a goal I was screaming at him to waive it off and was surprised how long it took him to rule no-goal. Having now seen the FSN feed and assuming that the green light is the official end of the game it is clear a mistake was made but I am not sure how Schmidt is to blame.”<\/em> – Craig Praul<\/p>\n Craig, too, has a point that the above goal camera that is used likely did (every account I’ve heard says the same) show the puck is outside of the goal when the clock reached 0.0. But that doesn’t let Schmidt off the hockey. Seriously, Schmidt was on the goal line. His hand was pointing at the net before the buzzer sounded. His initial reaction when heading to review the video should have been that this was a goal. So to look at exactly one frame of a video and allow that to change your mind is crazy. I’ve watched tons of NHL games where you can see the video replay official winding and re-winding MOVING video, so there really wasn’t justification for watching only a single, still frame.<\/p>\n At this point, it’s obviously time for everyone, including myself (and I must say, 99% of the time, I’m an apologist for referees – this is just a no excuse kind of situation) to move on. The WCHA on Thursday denied Wisconsin’s appeal<\/a> that would have changed the outcome of the game from a win to a tie. WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod told the Wisconsin State Journal on Thursday, “It’s a black-and-white issue. I don’t have the prerogative to change the outcome of a game.”<\/p>\n What prerogative McLeod and WCHA Supervisor of Officials Greg Shepherd do have is to discipline referee Schmidt for his poor judgement. Nothing on that has been formally announced to this point.<\/p>\n Hobey Farce?<\/strong><\/p>\n